Almost a week since the “Titan” submersible disappeared last Sunday, the story has come to a tragic end. According to US Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger, the vessel suffered a catastrophic implosion, killing all five people on board. Stockton Rush, who is the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions, Hamish Harding, Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood in the submersible.
CNN reported that a remotely operated vehicle found the tail cone of the Titan and other debris.
A Race Against The Clock
When the Titan went missing, The United States, Canada and France aided in the search. With each passing day, the amount of emergency oxygen in the Titan diminished.
NBC News reported that, “a sound consistent with an implosion was heard Sunday, shortly after the submersible lost communications.”
James Cameron, director of the 1997 Titanic film, said he could only come to one conclusion when Titan disappeared.
“The only scenario I could come up with that could account for that was an implosion,” he said. “I watched over the ensuing days the whole sort of everybody-running-around-with-their-hair-on-fire search, knowing full well that it was futile. I hoped against hope that I was wrong, but knew in my bones that I wasn’t.”
Red Flags Were Raised About Titan Before
David Lochridge, who worked at OceanGate as an engineer and submarine pilot, was fired after expressing Titan safety and design concerns. The vessel had a very tight internal structure. CNN reported that the Titan had one toilet and no seats. Each of the five passengers had to sit cross-legged on the floor. There were no windows except for the porthole where the passengers could view the scene.
Gabe Cohen, who sat in Titan in 2018, described the look of the operation tool as “a Playstation controller.” The vessel communicated with the Polar Prince, its mother ship, through text message. The submersible’s last message went out at around 11:47 a.m. last Sunday.
The Sinking Of The Titanic: One Of The Worst Recorded Maritime Disasters
A somewhat macabre fascination with the Titanic endures to this day. It has inspired countless documentaries, movies and books.
In April 1912, the ship departed Southampton, England, and was on its way to New York. It was the envy of its era and was dubbed “the unsinkable.”
Hours after an iceberg ripped into the hull, over 1,500 people lost their lives in the frigid Atlantic.
